realityinabox

I'm planning to start doing Stronglifts 5x5 in the next few days. It recommends little to no cardio so you can focus on lifting. I don't really want to give up commuting for all the obvious reasons (I like it, I hate driving in traffic, etc), but I'm concerned that my legs are going to be shot from squatting 3x/week, plus 5 days of riding.

Does anyone have any advice or experience with weight training and commuting?

PatrickGSR94

Shoot, I read the title and thought it was going to be about commuter trains, bringing bikes on board etc.

Tailor

How hard do you ride your commute? If you ride at medium intensity or lower, I'd imagine that the movement might actually help by giving your muscles some extra blood flow. I know I tend to hit my commute pretty hard, but its always possible to dial it back some.

I haven't tried the stronglifts program, but after hard ride days, or leg training days I just ride slow and easy, and it keeps the soreness down for me.

GovernorSilver

I currently follow the Parallettes One program on parallettes - thus, lifting my own bodyweight instead of a freeweight. It doesn't work my legs like a squatting program would though. I commute on the days I don't do my parallette training.

locolobo13 

When you read weight training books they have the attitude that Strength is All. Read bodyweight exercise books they're still preaching strength, little to no cardio, but are telling you that weights are unnatural and you SHOULD do bodyweight exercises. I've even seen a few cardio training books that tell you you don't need all that strength stuff, keep it to a minimum. I take it all with a LARGE grain of salt.

In the past I have done weight training and commuted. But not in a long time. This last year I've been doing stretching and calisthenics. Injured my shoulder a few years ago and haven't started weights again. I suspect too much cardio will keep you back a little on the numbers strength wise. Or maybe not.

Personally I'm not riding to be a racer. Not training to be a body builder. Fitness is about the right quantities of strength, endurance, flexibility and balance for what you want to do. I just want to have fun, health and be in good shape.

Gyrine

I don't bike commute but do ride and lift. Most lifting programs discourage cardio for a number of reasons but mostly because it almost always involves using your legs, which, if you exhaust them, makes it difficult to go heavy with squats and other leg intensive lifts. I don't believe this program discourages cardio per se but rather prefers you don't use cardio for warmup prior to lifting. I don't either but on cardio days, I do it after completing my lifts. But understand that beginning any new lifting program is going to result in stiff and sore muscles when you first start - it doesn't mean you are "shot." The health advantages of cardio are reinforced with each medical study; if your lifting program is not progressing as fast as you want, then modify it but don't give up the bike commute or even regular cardio. The 5x5 type program has been around a long time and there are many adaptations; it won't take you long to make adjustments to fit your goals and lifestyle.

Daniel4

I can't imagine weight training to ruin your cycling unless you train in bad form. I discovered that squatting and deadlifting has given me more options when climbing inclines on a bike. Instead of the usual push with your quads peddling, I can opt to stick out my butt a bit and push with your glutes. You can feel your hamstrings working too.

Also, I believe it's a myth that weight training isn't cardio exercising. Have you ever felt your heart pumping and your breathing harder as you push or pull with low reps/high weight or low weights/high reps? Doing exercises right after another with little rest and you would have put in probably equivalent to 20 minutes worth of straight cardio.

chefisaac

Yes, I have it dialed in very well. I weight train hard 3-4 days a week and commute two days a week with an additional long ride on the weekend,

wolfchild

I ride 7 days per week and I also lift weights and do kettlebell training 4 days per week. My cycling is strictly limited to commuting and errands, about 18- 20 miles roundtrip at a medium-low intensity. One of the main reasons why I stopped doing long distance recreational riding was because it was affecting my recovery from weight training. Weight lifting is an anaerobic activity and cycling is an aerobic activity and there is a huge big difference between the two. It is possible to balance cardio and strength training but doing too much cardio will compromise your recovery and you will never make any good progress in strength training. If your daily commute is not too long and you are riding at a lower intensity then it should be ok. Nutrition is very important, so make sure that you are getting enough good healthy calories.

PaulRivers

You don't have to do the program at the full pace it suggests. You can work out less (2x / week rather than 3x / week). Rather than increasing the weight every time you finish all the reps, do the workout an additional time with the same set that you can handle. Don't move up as fast - rather than adding 2.5lb plates (5lb's total on the bar), add 1.25lb plates instead).

I quit after I seriously hurt my leg squatting. I did some more afterwards, but found myself getting a lot more out of other programs than weightlifting so I quit. The best thing I've personally found is alternating pilates (my posture sucks) with kickboxing (the workout-program kind with punching bags and gloves and a lot of other exercises, not the actually hitting someone kind).

Weightlifting made me stronger mostly in ways that didn't matter, and frankly made my posture worse. Other full body exercise programs made me stronger in ways that I can feel every day and make everyday activities more comfortable.

I've seen people who are actually training, and they never seem to do weightlifting alone. They always mix weightlifting with cardio with full body movements - the same kind of movement I see in exercise videos, I see high school and college sports teams doing on the field when training. Pro's don't do weightlifting by itself by the most part.

I might go back to weight training or I might not, if I do I'm planning on only doing 2 days / week and mixing it with other full body workouts (not on the same day of course) as pure weight training didn't achieve the goals of wanting to look better and get stronger in meaningful ways for me.

I do think that you would have a lot of trouble commuting by bike and doing 3x / week squats. They're exhausting, on the legs and lower back, but on the central nervous system as well. I was just wiped out by it.

For programs, Stronglifts was better balanced than Starting Strength (what I was trying to do) but both are exhausting - and imo not in a good way.

If you're mixing other exercise, I like the less intense progression of All Pro's better - but I didn't like that it had me doing the bench press and overhead press on the same day all the time as it hurt my shoulders:
AllPro: A Simple Beginner's Routine part V - Bodybuilding.com Forums

I was starting to do Fierce 5:
"Fierce 5" Novice Routine - Bodybuilding.com Forums

Which was the best balance I had found so far, when I realized that I accomplished more of my personal goals with programs that weren't weightlifting (exercise videos, then stopped those and did pilates and kickboxing).

GovernorSilver

FWIW, the authors of the parallettes program I'm following are relatively open-minded. They have no problem going to gyms for heavy barbell lifts. They do caution against "cocktail" training, for the simple reason that the more different kinds of training you mix up, the slower your progress will be. That said, all their programs offer advice on scheduling your workouts if you choose to combine one of their programs with another one.

Started the parallettes program just after beginning commuting by bike to work. Progress has been pretty decent so far - doubled my max reps on the most difficult non-hold exercises, and have progressed in the one-leg shoulder stand hold from 5-sec. hold per leg to 3 sec. hold with both feet off the floor (the lower foot hovering a couple of inches off-floor instead of supporting the body).

wolfchild

You are talking about circuit training, which is a mixture of strength-endurance-cardio all in one workout, it is good for developing general all around fitness. Sometimes when I am busy and don`t have much time, I will do a high intensity full body circuit with weights and kettlebells, it only takes about 20 minutes and I am totally wasted...25 rep squats or Tabata Intervals with kettlebells is another good way to get your heart pumping really really hard. OPs program is different and it is more about developing pure strength...

wolfchild

I made my own set of Parallettes form PVC tubing. They are great for core workouts.

GovernorSilver

I got my parallettes after I bruised my forearm, erm, falling off my bike. I was following the Rings One program on rings, but that bruise was rubbing up against the ring strap.

I indeed quickly learned what parallette training can offer. I need to nail my L-sit though before I can start working on the parallette skills that take my core training to the next level - eg. the single arm straddle sit and L-sit thrusts (thrust your legs forward from L-st, then pull them back).

mcours2006

It all depends on where you put your priorities. If you want to get strong and build mass doing the 5x5, then doing cardio is not optimal as it does exhaust your legs as well as hinder recovery. You can still do it, by all means, but it's not optimal. The squatting isn't necessarily going to hurt your riding; more like the other way around. I will train my legs once a week, but volume is quite low--no more than four or five sets. Any more than this and I will experience DOMS which will make it very uncomfortable to ride.

Personally, I have been lifting for the better part of the last 30 years, always done cardio for 20 of those 30 years. In my youth I was just concerned with building mass, so I lifted heavy, ate a lot, and gained muscle, along with a good amount of fat. That was fine as that was my goal.

Now, I'm not concerned with gaining mass, but I am still lifting heavy, as heavy as possible in the 8-10 rep range. The goal now is to hold on to the lean mass that I do have and not to have it eroded away by the sheer amount of riding and running I do. At 5'9" and a fairly lean 145lbs (8-9%bf), my interest is just to maintain the status quo.

tjspiel

It depends on what your goals are.

If I were built like Arnold in his prime but couldn't run a mile, I wouldn't consider myself fit. Likewise, if I was a good enough cyclist to compete in the TDF but had the upper body of, well.. a cyclist, I wouldn't consider myself fit either.

So I do cardio and weights, recognizing that too much of one makes it harder to progress in the other. That is OK as far as I'm concerned. I'd do yoga too if I had the time. Weights and cardio both have well recognized health benefits.

chefisaac

where are you doing kettlebell traing at? I love swinging. In Toronto, have you tried a kb gym called Bing fitness?

wolfchild

I have my own kettlebells and weights and I train at home. It's easier and more convenient for me to train at home, I am busy and going out of my way to a gym would take too much time.
My kettlebell routine is very simple and I stick to a few basic exercises such as: swing, snatch, clean and renegade row. I often mix kettlebell exercises with regular weight training.

Squeeze

I also lift weights at home too, to help with overall fitness and stay strong as I age. I use dumbbells and a weight bench for upper body exercise. I also do pushups, but not as often as I should. I don't do squats or anything for my legs with weights. I figure I take care of legs on the bike and by never using the elevator at work (I work on the eighth floor).